Glengarry Glen Ross

The first section of Glengarry Glen Ross was pretty interesting to me. I got a lot out of the different characters and their interactions with each other and the company.

I looked up a few words in the story to help further meaning. I looked up polack, which is a demeaning term for people of Polish descent. I also looked up marshaling, which means to arrange in a certain order. Finally, I also looked up the phrase au lait, which was during Roma's speech on the train, which turns out to mean prepared or served with milk.

The play starts off with two businessmen, Levene and Williamson, eating at a Chinese restaurant. Levene is talking with Williamson about he recently can't close a deal, but he'll get back to his old shape in no time. Levene is a veteran of the business world, while Williamson seems a little newer to the game. I liked the comments Levene made on Williamson marshaling leads. He says, "Fuck marshaling the leads. What the fuck talk is that? Where did you learn that? In School?...Our job is to sell" (page 19).

I think a lot of this can be applied in college students' lives. We learn the proper way to do business and conduct ourselves at school. When we get out in the business world, though, are we going to follow suit by doing things the proper way or are we going to take the shortcuts that lead to the quickest success personally? In a capitalist society, I'd say oftentimes we'll go for the shortcut route.

Williamson takes this shortcut route by taking Levene's cut on a couple of sales that are given to him by Williamson. As mentioned earlier, this isn't necessarily the most ethical thing to do, but it logically makes sense for the two men in order for them to maximize their personal earnings.

The next scene involves Moss and Aaronow talking about their business problems. They're discussing how their company takes way too much of a cut out of their commissions. They discuss a friend, Jerry Graff, who is doing business on his own. Moss says, "He's clean, he's doing business for himself...Why take ten percent?...What are we giving ninety per...for nothing" (page 33). I think people often times get stuck in a rut in their job and look at how the grass is always greener on the other side, so to speak. This can at times be true, but it can also lead to brash actions and risk taking built on frustration in a current situation. This is what happens to moss and Aaronow. They start thinking about how their job is terrible compared to others, and they try to beat the system by taking the leads and selling them off.

Next, the reader meets Roma, a man determined to get his. Roma is all about gaining. He doesn't really care about excuses, if he sees something out there that he wants, his main objective is to go out there and get it. He seems like a cynical man, who's been through a lot. He says that life throws out problems, as well as throwing out some blessings. The good and the bad happen, and you just have to deal with it and do what's most for your own gain.